Many machines and devices today are configured to perform a variety of different functions or processes. Such multi-function devices are usually equipped with some kind of control mechanism to allow a user of the device to select and actuate a particular function from the numerous available functions which the device is capable of performing. For example, one such multi-function device used today is an operating/imaging table having a patient bearing surface to hold a patient during an operation. The patient bearing surface which may be moved laterally and vertically, as well as rotated, in relation to an operating physician to place the patient in a position more convenient for access and operation by the physician. Such operating/imaging tables are equipped with x-ray, tomographic, and fluoroscopic imaging hardware systems which may be used to perform various x-ray related techniques on the patient. Such tables are operated by multi-function control systems.
One type of control mechanism for a combination operating/imaging table is a hand held unit with a plurality of buttons which are depressed to operate the various functions of the imaging hardware as well as to move the table surface in a desired direction. However, a hand-held control unit requires the physician to interrupt the ongoing medical operation to perform the task of moving the table or taking an x-ray picture of the patient. In the least, a hand-held control unit requires that one hand of the physician is free from the medical operation in order to manipulate the control unit. As may be appreciated, it is undesirable, and often impossible, for the physician to have one hand free to manipulate the hand control. Such circumstances usually arises when the surgical procedure is very precise and sensitive and interruption of the procedure is not an alternative.
In some situations it may be possible to utilize assisting medical personnel to operate the hand control unit in order to move the table and operate the imaging hardware. However, such a procedure requires additional trained personnel, increasing the cost of the operation and drawing those personnel from other more critical tasks at hand, such as assisting the operating physician with the medical operation. Additionally, the hands of the operating physician and assisting personnel are usually sterilized, and maintaining the sterility of their hands while they operate the control unit adds another difficulty to the operation scenario. Still further, it is often easier and more efficient for the physician performing the operation to be able to operate the table himself without constantly giving verbal commands for its operation to someone else.
One solution that has been offered as an alternative to a hand control unit is a foot-operated control device with a variety of buttons, pedals or joysticks which may be manipulated with the physician's foot during the operation to leave his hands free to perform the medical operation. However, foot-operated controls for multi-function devices have generally been bulky and difficult to manipulate to achieve the desired results. In general, the available foot-operated controls require various awkward movements of the user's foot to successfully achieve the desired function of the multi-function device. Furthermore, foot-operated controls for multi-function systems have generally been limited to only a few functions due to the mechanical constraints of the foot-operated control device and/or the limited range of motion of the human foot to select and actuate the various desired functions. As a result, increasing the number of functions which are selectable and actuatable with a foot control device has traditionally only been possible by increasing the complexity of the foot control, such as by adding more pedals, buttons, and/or joy sticks which must be moved or otherwise manipulated by a user's foot to produce the desired result.
Furthermore, as may be appreciated, a person who is operating a multi-function device, such as a physician moving a patient and the x-ray imaging hardware of an operating/imaging table, should stay focused upon the task at hand, e.g., the surgical operation. A control device, such as a foot-operated control, which requires the physician to constantly think about which of the multiple functions he is selecting or to continually look down at the floor to determine whether he is moving the proper pedal or button undesirably shifts the physician's concentration from his primary task, i.e., the medical operation, to the secondary task of controlling the multi-function device. Current foot-operated controls require a certain amount of trial and error in their operation, since the physician cannot be continually looking at the floor to determine proper control mechanism.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide an improved multi-function foot-operated control system which may be easily and efficiently operated by a user to select and actuate a large number of selectable functions of a multi-function device, such as an operating/imaging table. These and other objectives will be more clearly illustrated below by the summary and detailed description of the invention.